Friday, 1 March 2013

The 5 AM Twitter Rant

28th February, 5 AM, I went Twitter-mad. This is the 89-Tweet rant that followed. (In the correct chronological order). Enjoy. Agree. Refute. Click the picture to find and follow me.

01. I can't sleep. My day begins at 6:30am today and won't end till about 10:00pm. And then there's #bbcqt.02. I'm knackered as it is. Yesterday wasn't a walk in the park either.03. I'm gonna go all random now. Better to give up trying to sleep.04. So, why are the Left called "Liberal"? I find that they're anything but.05. I've lived through dictatorships, military rule, extreme religious-based governments, even a form of Sharia law and monarchies. >>>06. >>> But nowhere have I seen a stance as hardline as the so-called "Liberals" and socialists.07. I recently read an article in the Times, by Libby Purves, I think. Purves talked about "The Tyranny Of Cool".08. While Purves was referring to pop culture and social behaviour, if I remember correctly, I can draw some parallels with how >>>09. >>> socialism seems like a sexy and seductive idea.10. I remember USSR of the 80s, when I would help my Dad with the business. The average Joe was pretty hard up in Russia.11. I was too young to be chasing girls back then, but I remember stories of how you could "buy" the services of a >>>12. >>> ramp-modelesque woman for an entire month for less than the cost of an evening’s drinks. And by services I mean >>>13. >>> cooking, cleaning, shopping, and yes, sex on demand.14. I was around 12 or 13 at the time. And yes, I did help my Dad in his business at that age, for three months of every year.15. Having studied in India, we had this image of the USSR, superpower, rich, advanced. >>>16. >>> When I was slightly older, around 15-16, I saw it firsthand. Even at that age, I could tell it was seriously flawed and wouldn't last.17. And sure enough, a couple of years later, it fell apart. The champagne socialists carved up the country between themselves.18. Rich barons were created overnight and formed a cartel of sorts - it was like Russia had gone back to the Tsars.19. I saw it coming. I saw it coming before I hit puberty.20. And my disdain for socialism, social engineering, big government was planted then. I read Marx. WTF was he smoking?21. I remember once I needed to move some grain. We needed to charter a few planes and someone suggested I hire the ALN124s from Moscow.22. The ALN124 is a beast. It was used by the Soviet war machine to transport tanks and troops. You can fit a Boeing 747 in it.23. It was built at the peak of Soviet power, with no consideration to sustainability or cost effectiveness. They wanted it, they built it.24. When the USSR collapsed, and market realities hit, they realised it wasn't economical to maintain them. They sold them.25. The people who bought them tried to charter them out to transport goods, but there were no takers. It would have been cheaper to >>>26. >>> charter three 747s for less than 3/4 of the money need to get that pile of junk into the air.27. Plus, not many airports in the world could handle a plane like that. It needed more room than the Concorde.28. There are hundreds of such examples from USSR, thousands maybe. On a smaller, but equally damaging scale we >>>29. >>> do a lot of that here in Britain too. And we're not even a communist state. Or are we?30. Over the next week or so, I will be tweeting out some of the disastrous ALN Ruslan 124s of Britain.31. Some of them will make your skin crawl. Whether you're a well-meaning Lefty, or a misguided Commie, you will cringe.32. Money, lots and lots of money, more money than you can ever imagine - YOUR money, money taken off welders and plumbers, >>>33. >>> teachers and cleaners, shopkeepers and bus drivers under threat of imprisonment spent on things that made >>>34. >>> not one iota of a difference to a single life. Apart from the company favoured by the state's patronage. Like the Tsars of old.35. Corporatism is the government's creation. It is not the result of free markets; rather it is the intended consequence of regulated markets.36. Put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while, before you ask me why I think so.37. Socialism, that egalitarian utopia mostly monied folk write about in the Guardian is the biggest con going.38. It's the easiest sell in the world. After all who won't buy into slogans like "fairness", "equality" and "prosperity for all"?39. Most proponents that plug socialism have their faces stuffed with enough money that they're set for life.40. The poor in the meantime, lap it up.41. Many celebrities PRETEND to live in this Lefty la-la land. It goes down well with their customer base, comprende?42. EMA, for example. There are countries where people walk for miles, barefoot to get an education. >>>43. >>> Go to any city in India and you WILL find some kids studying late into the night - on pavements, under street lights.44. We in Britain have to give all kids £30 a week just to show up? Oh and on top of that, free travel too?45. Labour screamed when EMA was abolished, will they bring it back? Do they have the costings for it? Nope.46. If you look at the Lefty blogosphere & Twitterverse, you'll find it's filled with well-paid or set for life individuals >>>47. >>> wracked with guilt and self-loathing over their prosperity. They're always angry.48. They come in all shapes and sizes. A surprising number are sorted by independent means - a book that did well, a trust fund, >>>49. >> a very, well-paid, usually public sector job, a wealthy spouse, own home in suburbia and a lot of time on their hands.50. The irony of course is that these champagne socialists acquired their means through capitalist means.51. Their anger stems not from seeing inequality, but from feeling deep within that they are not worthy of what they have. Hence the anger.52. So all ranting, all the raving, all the being offended on behalf of those-who-have-no-idea-they-should-be-offended is nothing >>>53. >>> but their way of justifying their existence. To themselves.54. And now, I think I should get some tea. :-)55. Little do the Lefties and statists that decry corporatism know, they are the cause of it.56. Strangle an industry sector with enough regulation and pretty soon you'll find all the little players wilt away.57. This is how corporates grow, at the expense of smaller players - often mom-and-pop outfits edged out by government meddling.58. In a completely free market, this kind of consolidation would be extremely rare. And if it does happen >>>59. >>> profits will soar, when that happens more players jump into the fray.60. Take for example, the horsemeat saga. Local producers of meat tick every box, cross every t & dot every i, incurring costs >>>61. >>> that foreign producers don't have to bear. Result, we eat meat from abroad and our producers die out.62. The playing field is not level at all. Now I'm not suggesting a protectionist stance, or even subsidies, but shouldn't >>>63. >>> British producers and manufacturers be afforded the same privileges as foreign ones?64. What the hell happened to our pottery industry? China didn't kill it. The tree-hugger do-gooders did it.65. I don't these Greenoids either. Killing off entire industries in Britain, only to import the same stuff from elsewhere. >>>66. >>> So we don't have smokestacks here. Great. Guess what? Your 64-piece dining set was made in China. They've got smokestacks now.67. Cut down carbon emissions in the UK, never mind them moving to China, or India. It's not like it's the same atmosphere, is it? Morons.68. And while India and China burn away 17 times as much coal as Europe, to make the stuff for us that we don't make any more >>>69. >>> We're smug and safe knowing that we're going to arrest global warming with a special light bulb and a sodding bag for life.70. That's been one hell of a rant. 70+ Tweets so far. I wonder if anyone's reading. My phone is hot!71. The only Lefties I will ever believe in will be those that give everything they own away and live on what they call a living wage.72. If you don't do that, your principles are a load of bull.73. When I say give away, I mean everything. Except your house. That should revert to the state when you die. Can you do that?74. I didn't think so.75. And Lefties that own more property that the one they live and/or work in. Erm... how does that work with your principles?76. I know a Labour Councillor who has EIGHT homes apart from the one she lives in. All rented out to housing benefit claimants. Cozy, eh? >>>77. >>> Don't worry, she's not on Twitter. She can't even read and write in English. They use a Council-funded interpreter. >>>78. >>> I won't be naming her, but there at least three people on my timeline who know whom I am referring to.79. Some time ago, I blogged about the National Minimum Wage and why it's wrong. I got attacked, but of course... >>>80. Lefties said "When the NMW was introduced; people like you said business would die. But see? Companies are making record profits" >>>81. My reply, "Yes they are, on goods imported from abroad. We don't make it here any more. We bloody can't afford to."82. I have to say though; the welfare state is the best idea since democracy. I believe in it. We're doing it all wrong.83. India's launched a women-only bank. Public sector, of course. What next, women-only shops and bazaars?84. Question: Would you go to a shop that is known to offer shoddy quality/service? Answer: No. You'll go to another shop. << Capitalism85. The EU decides to cap performance related pay. As if there aren't other ways to pay people. The tax take doesn't change one bit you morons.86. Governments in the developed world take far more money than they need to provide a solid, working welfare state.87. Every year 1.3 Billion tonnes of food is wasted. 1,300,000,000,000 kilograms. That is a failing of regulation. Not markets.88. Markets do not waste. There is no greater resource allocator than a free and unfettered market.89. Right First Great Western, I've had a shitty night and a ranty morning. You had better not add to it.And with that, I went to catch my train.